REC TEC Wood Pellet Grill

The REC TEC Grill is a wood pellet grill with a high temperature durable textured powder coat finish and a primary cooking area of 680 sq. inches.

It has a large interior and a nice amount of headroom for cooking whole chickens or turkeys.

The REC TEC Grill is made in China, however, the heart and soul of the grill (the computer) is made here in the USA. The powder coat is also made in the USA and the final assembly along with quality control takes place at the REC TEC Grill facility in Georgia.

The REC TEC Grill comes with a 6 year limited warranty and the overall dimensions of the grill are (H x W x D) 48″ x 57″ x 34″ and the grill weighs 203 pounds.

Below are pictures of everything that was included in the very well packaged shipping box. All the parts inside were wrapped really good to protect them during shipping. It took about an hour to put the grill together.

A grill cover was also included with the REC TEC Grill.

I have to say one of the things I liked about the REC TEC Grill right off the bat was its awesome looking style and its micro polished solid stainless steel bull horn handles. This grill just screams BAD A$$!

Mounted on the rear of the grill is a nice large 40lb capacity hopper which is great for those long cooks. The hopper lid doubles as a warming surface and also has handles for easy opening and closing.

The REC TEC Grill has a Smart Grill Technology Controller. The Smart Grill Technology is controlled by a pressure sensitive touch pad. Turning the grill on activates the automatic start-up mode and illuminates the digital LED readout. Pressing the touch pad again activates the shut down mode of the REC TEC Pellet Grill.

This grill has a temperature range of 180°F to 500°F (with 5 degree increments). It also has a Pellet Prime Touch Pad, which when pressed and held, the fuel feed system will turn and feed more wood pellets into the fire pot. This feature can be used to add more fuel just before opening the grill lid to help with quicker heat recovery.

The REC TEC Grill has a side shelf with 4 tool hooks and plenty of space for a plate or other BBQ related tools and gadgets.

It also has a nice large bottom shelf and a very handy stainless steel towel ring.

The REC TEC Grill has very sturdy Rollerblade style wheels and locking casters.

On the right side of the grill you will find a grease bucket and a side bar which makes for some very easy moving of the grill.

All the seams on the REC TEC Grill are welded, powder coated, and caulked for triple redundant weather protection.

Inside the grill you will find an interior light with an easy to remove dishwasher safe glass lens and a 10 gauge stainless steel fire pot.

This grill also has a 12 gauge stainless steel heat deflector and drip pan.

The very heavy duty grill grates are made from ¼ inch stainless steel rods.

Now on to my first cook on the REC TEC Grill.

I’ve been thinking about making Pig Candy for a while now, and I thought to myself this would be the perfect first cook and a great way to season my new REC TEC Grill.

I went to the store and picked up some of my favorite bacon.

Next up it was time to sprinkle on some rub I’ve been wanting to use for a while now from a great local BBQ joint called 12 Bones Smokehouse. The name of the rub was Bacon Sugar which I felt fit perfectly for what I was about to cook.

Below are pictures of the nice thick slices of bacon before and after I applied a nice coat of rub on them.

After I was finished with the bacon I went outside and opened the lid of the REC TEC Grill and then pressed the ON/OFF touch pad to turn the grill on. I then adjusted the temperature of the grill to 350°F by pressing the up arrow touch pad.

Once I saw a little bit of smoke coming from inside the grill I knew some pellets had dropped into the fire pot and had lit. I then shut the lid of the grill to let it get up to temp.

After the grill had reached 350°F I placed the bacon inside the grill on top of a Frogmat which you can see in the pictures below.

I cooked the Pig Candy for around 45 minutes and once it was finished cooking I brought it inside to cool off a bit before trying.

I then went back outside and pressed the ON/OFF touch pad to turn the grill off. Once I did that the Smart Grill Technology processor stopped adding pellets to the fire pot and the bellows fan ran until the pellets remaining in the fire pot were burned. During this cooling process, the LED screen displayed COOL which can be seen in the picture below. When the REC TEC Grill had completely burned the remaining pellets in the fire pot, the Smart Grill processor completed the shut down process.

Once that was finished I went back inside to sample the Pig Candy. After taking one bite I thought to myself, why haven’t I made this before?! It was so delicious and the rub gave the bacon a nice sweet crunchy flavor with a bit of heat at the end. I’ll be honest I ate 13 of the 15 slices that night lol. It was that good!

For my next cook I decided on grilling some FATBURGER Patties for lunch for my daughter and I.

I followed the same start-up steps as the first cook and once the grill had reached 400°F I placed on the burgers.

Below is a picture of my daughter who loves being my grilling sidekick.

Once the burgers were done I removed them from the grill and brought them into the house for my daughter and I to eat.

The burgers were juicy and perfectly cooked and my daughter really enjoyed hers.

Again I followed the same start-up steps as my first two cooks and once the grill was up to 400°F I placed on the 2lb Garlic & Herb Pork Loin Filet.

It took 45 minutes for the Pork Loin Filet to reach an internal temperature of 145°F.

I then brought it inside the house and let it rest 5 minutes before slicing. The Pork Loin Filet was very moist and juicy and perfectly cooked. My family and I really enjoyed it!

For my 4th and final cook on the REC TEC Grill, I decided to smoke a 5lb pork butt.

I rubbed the pork butt with one of my favorite rubs, Killer Hogs The BBQ Rub and then wrapped the butt in plastic wrap and placed it in the fridge overnight.

I decided to start my cook early the next morning since it would take most of the day for the pork butt to cook. This also gave me the opportunity to take pictures to show off the nice bright interior light.

Once again I followed the same start-up steps as my cooks before and once the grill was up to 250°F I placed on the 5lb pork butt.

After a little over 10 1/2 hours the pork butt reached an internal temperature of 195°F and was ready to come off the grill to rest for about an hour before I pulled it for dinner.

Below is a close-up picture after I pulled the pork butt. The pulled pork was very moist and had some great looking bark too. It was so delicious and had such a great flavor to it, that I ate it right out of the foil pan I pulled it in with no sauce and no bun. Some great eats for sure!

Final Thoughts

Like I’ve mentioned many times before, I have always been a big fan of pellet grills and the REC TEC Grill just blew me away with its great looks and it’s wonderful features. I am highly impressed with the great quality build of this grill and how easy it was to use.

The REC TEC Grill did a great job of staying pretty much right at the temperature I had it set at for all my cooks. It rarely moved any more than a degree or so from those set temps.

The Pellet Prime feature was something I really liked about this grill. I used it right before opening the lid of the grill and it did a great job of helping with a quicker heat recovery time after closing the lid.

Clean-up was a cinch on this grill as well. I lined the drip pan and bucket with heavy duty aluminum foil so pretty much all I had to do was remove the foil and throw it away. I used a grill brush to clean the grates after every cook and used my PowerSmith 3-in-1 Ash Vacuum to vacuum out the very little pellet ash that was left inside the bottom of the grill. (I typically vacuum the inside of my pellet grills after 4-5 cooks.)

If you’re in the market for a pellet grill, then I highly recommend looking into the REC TEC Wood Pellet Grill. It should definitely be at the top of your list for sure!

Comments

Great review! I was getting ready to order a Traeger Texas when I stumbled across the Rec Tec. I just ordered a Rec Tec a couple of days ago and can’t wait to use it. Their customer service is awesome and the warranty is outstanding… another reason I purchased the Rec Tec.

I am about to purchase a REC TEC . I have researched quite a bit. I was turned onto it after a friend brought a butt to a hunting trips this past fall. It was a great piece of meat and we started talking. He was using a Traeger less than a year old and told me to buy the REC TEC. when I told REC TEC they said they would send him 40 lbs of pellets free. I have spoken with them three times over a few months, not pushy, very nice. I will place my order tomorrow. And be cooking in a few days. Bob

I debated for months. Rec’d my REC TEC last week, did some pig candy(first time and that awesome), then smoked a 12lb chicken this weekend. Used the oak ridge secret weapon rub and it was tender as all get out and the flavor was awesome. I’m doing a butt this weekend.

Thanks Prince this was a great review very well done and it helped me decide on a Rec Tec. It’s everything you say it is along with the Rec Tec team. Pork butt goes on early tomorrow so it will be a Rec Tec Day!

I had a Traeger and it went back to Costco, Rec Tec is in a different league.

We bought a Rec Tec last summer, and it was a great purchase. I smoke a full load of chicken regularly to freeze for future use, but nothing beats a pork shoulder hot off the grill. And the Rec Tec guys are fantastic!

We have now owned a rectec for nearly two years. We saw our first pellet grill at Costco 2 years ago and it was a traeger. I’m the type of person who does extensive research before making large purchases and it was easy to make the decision to purchase the rectec over the traeger and other brands after a short time of reading reviews and watching videos. The rectec is a much heavier and well built grill compared to the others and the warranty is also the best. We never grilled much before but we are now always trying to find what we can cook and grill on this thing. I can honestly say that it is one of the best investments we have made and we are fixing to purchase the rectec mini so we can take it to the lake when we go camping etc. I’m certain it will torture all the other campers having to smell the wonderful aromas coming out of the rectec while its in use. I hope this review is helpful to anyone who is considering the purchase of a rectec. Happy grilling !

I was going to buy a Traeger(based on having a friend who sells them and a relative who has one) but after doing a fair amount of research decided against Traeger and bought a Rec Tec mini. We love our Rec Tec!! So far we have made burgers, baby backs, chicken and will be smoking some more baby backs this weekend. Everything has been great and I am a novice at this. I can’t say enough good things about RecTec. It is a top quality product and their customer service is as good as it could possibly get.